


A New Dawn

by God_of_Doors



Category: Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
Genre: F/F, First Kiss
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-23
Updated: 2020-02-23
Packaged: 2021-02-28 02:20:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,331
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22856128
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/God_of_Doors/pseuds/God_of_Doors
Summary: As nightmares continue to plague the residents of Dawnstar, two miners find comfort in each other.Written for TES Femslash Week 2020Prompt 1: Dawn
Relationships: Fruki/Irgnir
Comments: 2
Kudos: 8
Collections: TES: Femslash Week 2020





	A New Dawn

Fruki eased down onto the bench with a groan, feeling every muscle in her body protest at having to endure any more movement that day. She’d pushed herself hard in the mines in a desperate bid to be too tired to dream that night, though the word around town was that that didn’t actually work. Now she was just going to be sore tomorrow, and still tired, but at least she had gotten a little boost in her payment from working harder than usual, which she now intended to spend on ale at the inn. She toyed with the idea of getting drunk enough to sleep dreamlessly, but she didn’t fancy a hangover in the morning.

“Fruki!”

The Nord in question looked up to find her friend and favorite competitor approaching her table, drink in hand. Fruki smiled as Irgnir slid onto the bench with a groan that sounded nearly identical to the sound Fruki herself had made moments prior.

“Tough day at the mines,” Irgnir sighed once she was settled. “I swear the ore is getting harder to dig.”

Fruki wanted to point out that they needed some gods-damned sleep if they wanted to be as productive as they used to be, but she knew Irgnir knew that just as well as she did. "You're just getting older," she said instead.

Irgnir huffed and leaned in to playfully nudge Fruki’s shoulder with her own. "That's why I come here to talk to you. You're all heart."

Fruki might have nudged back, but the movement jostled her aching bones as well as her drink, and she had to bite her lip against telling her friend off. She did look up to glare at Irgnir, however, and it was then that she finally realized how tired Irgnir looked. A cold feeling settled in her gut, fear that she looked the same. The heavy bags under the eyes, the slow blinking, the economical movement of a body trying to conserve energy, they all spoke volumes about how much sleep she’d gotten, how much anyone in town had gotten, namely, very little.

Fruki dropped her gaze with a sigh and turned the conversation to the quality of the ale that night, which Irgnir quickly picked up. They ate their supper and drank and joked, not as heartily as they would have preferred, but it was nice to pretend for a moment that there wasn’t a metaphorical black cloud of doom hanging over the town. By the time their meals were finished and conversational topics were running thin, Fruki finally noticed how drunk Irgnir had gotten over the course of their interaction. Her nose and ears had gone slightly pink, and her eyes were no longer quite focussed on Fruki’s face.

“Gods, I’m tired,” Irgnir muttered, and Fruki caught the light slur in her words.

“Are you alright to walk home?” Fruki asked. “You’ve had quite a bit.”

“I’m a  _ Nord _ ,” Irgnir countered. “I can hold my liquor. It’s in my blood.”

“Gravity doesn’t care what’s in your blood when you misstep on a patch of ice.”

“ _ Gravity _ can snuck a sowberry…wait.”

Fruki tried not to laugh. “Okay Irgnir. I’m still going to walk you home, though.” She stood and attempted to pull her drunk friend up with her.

“Don’t need it,” Irgnir grumbled, even as she allowed Fruki to pull her to her feet.

“Can’t two friends just walk together?”

Irgnir seemed to consider it for a moment, then nodded. “Yeah, I suppose they can.”

The walk to Irgnir’s house wasn’t as treacherous as Fruki had feared it might be, and she was wondering if perhaps Irgnir wasn’t actually as drunk as she’d initially thought. The woman even fit her key into the lock on the first try, something Fruki sometimes struggled with while sober. Fruki was gearing up to bid Irgnir farewell, as Dawnstar residents didn’t really say “good night” anymore, but Irgnir seemed to pause, door unlocked but still closed.

“Irgnir?”

“I don’t want to sleep,” she confessed in a whisper. Her hand fell away from the door and she leaned her forehead against the rough wood.

Fruki sighed and wrapped an arm around her friend’s shoulders, and Irgnir needed no further prompting to turn and rest her head against Fruki’s chest instead. They stood like that for a moment, until Fruki realized that Irgnir’s weight against her was gradually increasing, and she had to lean into her to keep her footing. “Well you can’t fall asleep on me,” she murmured.

“Can’t I?” Irgnir straightened up a bit so that she could turn her pleading gaze on Fruki. “Just one night. I’ve got a double bed. Please? I’m tired of waking up alone.”

Fruki blinked dumbly at her friend for a moment, ready to gently decline and immediately forget about it as the drunken ramblings of an exhausted woman, but then she noticed the cold against her chest that had replaced the warmth of Irgnir’s head. She’d gone a long time since sleeping beside someone else as well, and just then she honestly couldn’t think of another place she would rather be.

“Yeah, ok. I’m tired of waking up alone, too.”

Irgnir smiled and pressed her head against Fruki’s chest again, but Fruki pushed her back with a laugh. “How about we go inside, first?”

“Oh yeah,” Irgnir hummed. She finished opening the door, and the two of them finally stepped in out of the cold. Her house was small and a little cluttered, but it did indeed boast a bed built for two. Irgnir stripped right to her undergarments and climbed in, prompting Fruki to follow her in short order. They fell asleep separately, but when Fruki woke up whimpering the first time, Irgnir latched onto her side and didn't let go the rest of the night.

Fruki eventually awakened to the thin light of dawn filtering in through the small windows, signaling the sun's imminent rise. The night hadn't been nightmare-free for either of them, and yet she felt more rested than she had in weeks. She gently nudged Irgnir into wakefulness, and after only a bit more prompting, the two of them rose to ready themselves for the day.

Irgnir had just put her hand on the doorknob when Fruki stopped her with a hand on her arm. "Wait, I…" She faltered, but when Irgnir looked over at her in concern, she forced the rest of the words out with a smile. "I wanted to thank you for asking me to stay. It was nice."

Irgnir twisted her arm around until she could grab Fruki's hand with her own, and she laced their fingers together. "You're welcome anytime."

Fruki watched Irgnir's eyes drop momentarily to her lips and back up again. Intrigued, she leaned in a little closer, letting her own focus drop to Irgnir's lips and linger there. "How welcome am I, exactly?"

Irgnir's other hand ghosted along Fruki's shoulder. "Very welcome."

Their lips met, and Fruki copied Irgnir's caresses up and down her arm, across the back of her neck, and up into her hair. The kiss was deep but brief, and Irgnir was surprisingly the first to pull away.

"We have to go to work," she whispered.

Fruki sighed, trying to ignore the deep pang of disappointment at the truth in Irgnir's words. "Can we talk more about this tonight?" she whispered, afraid that if they left right now, the spell would be broken and everything would return to the way it was.

“I’d be disappointed, otherwise,” Irgnir murmured. “But the one who mines the least today has to be the one to bring it up, though.”

Fruki laughed, thankful she wasn’t the only one afraid that the normality of the rest of the day was going to put a damper on whatever was happening here. “Deal.”

They separated, and Irgnir finally opened the door so they could step out into the light of dawn, bringing a new day and a new, if unexpected, beginning.


End file.
